Football - #WengerOut

[MercenaryChef]

and in important football news NEWCASTLE ARE CHAMPIONS!

now let us hope they can keep rafa and spend the cash needed to get players to keep them up next year!

[AncalagonTheBlack]

1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

So glad I didn't get up early for that.

I was busy with a family outing and so missed the match.Just got back and saw the result.Have not seen the highlights yet.Honestly i was expecting this game to have plenty of goals,from both sides.So Lovren and Matip were our best players tonight? The rest were utter shite? Sigh.Why didn't Klopp start with Sturridge or Lallana?

 

26 minutes ago, MercurialCannibal said:

and in important football news NEWCASTLE ARE CHAMPIONS!

now let us hope they can keep rafa and spend the cash needed to get players to keep them up next year!

Congrats to you.I'm especially happy for Rafa.Next season EPL will have the best bunch of coaches around.

[Mexal]

Well that was a fun 2 minutes.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

5 minutes ago, Mexal said:

Well that was a fun 2 minutes.

Yes,but can you hold on to it?.

[Mexal]

36 minutes ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

Yes,but can you hold on to it?.

Seems so.

[mormont]

#MourinhoOut

[Consigliere]

Meh, a top 4 finish has been a long shot for quite some time now. Arsenal away, Spurs away, Southampton away - points were guaranteed to be dropped. I'm glad Mourinho made eight changes; I'm glad that Herrera was withdrawn after an hour; I'm not happy that Rashford was brought on but no harm done. Celta Vigo is a far bigger and more important game for us than Arsenal. Our entire season hinges on hopefully two more EL games.

[polishgenius]

In the long run, if we win the EL I won't care about this: I'd much rather Arsenal in the CL ahead of one of City or Liverpool.

But if we fail to win it it's a big deal. I don't mind that Mourinho made changes; I did have an issue with how lethargic some of the swap players looked. No wonder Lingard's currently edging ahead of Mkhitaryan in the pecking order again.

[Consigliere]

4 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

In the long run, if we win the EL I won't care about this: I'd much rather Arsenal in the CL ahead of one of City or Liverpool.

But if we fail to win it it's a big deal. I don't mind that Mourinho made changes; I did have an issue with how lethargic some of the swap players looked. No wonder Lingard's currently edging ahead of Mkhitaryan in the pecking order again.

That's the conundrum for Mourinho. Think he made the right call in resting players and I agree that Mkhitaryan has gone off the boil (and just when we need him the most). I'm glad that Mata is back though. I think that even if we put out a full strength team and won this game, we still would not finish in the top 4. Spurs away is an almost guaranteed defeat as they have been outstanding at home. I've felt for a long time that all our eggs were in the EL basket. At the end of the day, we drew too many games. The 20 odd points dropped at home (most of those games we really should have won) has cost us dearly.

[l2 0 5 5]

Fabregas with another brilliant ball. I know Hazard is number one person I hope stays this summer but Fab isn't far behind. Absolute wizard. 

[MercenaryChef]

Boro have been down for months and just couldn't accept it.

Brad Guzan relegated two seasons in a row in goal. I imagine his services won't be highly sought next year.

now will it be swansea or hull? last month I met the swans u23 coach as he was staying in my hotel for a week and we chatted a good bit. can't help but pull for his boys to stay up. 

[Consigliere]

I'd say Swansea are definitely favourites to stay up. Hull have a difficult trip to Palace next who are in a precarious position themselves and will be highly motivated to secure their survival with a game to spare. After that they host Spurs in their final match. Swansea have the more favourable fixtures: away to already relegated Sunderland and home to West Brom who have nothing to play for. They could secure their place this weekend if results go their way.

[mormont]

To be fair, playing 'already relegated Sunderland' didn't work out too well for Hull. And given tonight's result, Tottenham will likely have nothing to play for come the game against Hull: Pocchetino might well rest players.

ETA - OK, let them go on holiday early rather than rest, but you know what I mean.

[Jeor]

Re: the race for the Champions League places (the only other thing besides the third relegation that seems to be up in the air), I have this horrible feeling that Liverpool and City will drop points but Arsenal are going to cock it all up and still miss out.

With so many games crammed into a couple of weeks, we are just as likely (if not moreso) to drop points than Liverpool or City. As we all stumble towards that line, the glories of the Europa League will await Wenger next season...

[Consigliere]

Juve in cruise control. Defending well as usual and looking dangerous going forward. Some good saves by Subasic (combined with tame finishing) is the only reason Juve aren't up by four already. Monaco started well and have had some moments, as they did in the 1st leg, but this Juve backline is just too good.

[Consigliere]

I thought the Atleti/Real game would be a non-contest but Atleti have made a great start and we have a game on our hands. Of course if Real can get one, Atleti would need to score five.

[polishgenius]

Fucking hell. How lucky are we that Celta Vigo don't have anyone good up front? If they had someone of the quality of, say, Jason Scotland they'd have won.

[Consigliere]

Well, we go through but that was not pretty. Celta were the better side on the night but I thought we were fairly comfortable until Celta equalised. After that we looked very nervy and Celta could have won the game. Bailly being sent off is a big loss too. Wonder if we could appeal that - looked a soft red to me. Not all that confident for the final although Ajax themselves lost tonight and have not been all that good away from the Amsterdam Arena.

[Calibandar]

I think United will win that final.

That said the team has looked like a dim shadow of late without Zlatan and that is worrisome for both EL final and EPL top 4 qualification.

In a single match, Ajax could do something, but I'd still say this goes to United, a surplus of better players.

[Consigliere]

Zlatan is a loss but his absence is nowhere near being the main reason why we have been so poor of late. Mourinho's tactics are. He has regressed to his ultra-defensive "18th century football" tactics and this is doing us no favours. Our flair players are being saddled with far too much of a defensive burden. When Mkhitaryan is made to play as an auxiliary fullback then don't expect an 8/10 performance from him. Last night, we were not pegged back due to any brilliance on the part of Celta. We handed them the momentum when we deliberately sat back looking to protect a one goal lead rather than actually looking to kill the game off with a second goal.

I wouldn't worry about top 4 qualification. Mourinho has given up on that already. Should Arsenal, City and Liverpool win this weekend then I expect Mourinho will be putting out reserve teams for our last two games. Even if those teams end up dropping points this weekend, I don't think it will matter because we have about a snowball's chance in hell of beating Spurs.